Australia's Shane Warne (left) reacts with wicketkeeer Adam Gilchrist (centre) and teammate Matthew Hayden (right) after bowling England's Kevin Pietersen for two runs during the fifth day's play of the second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval yesterday. - Reuters

ADELAIDE, (Reuters)

Australia beat England by six wickets with 19 balls to spare on an extraordinary final day to win the second Test and take a 2-0 lead in the Ashes series yesterday.

England set Australia a victory target of 168 off 36 overs after their batting inexplicably crumbled, losing their last nine wickets for 60 runs to be all out for just 129 in their second innings.

Australia lost Justin Langer (7), Matthew Hayden (18), Ricky Ponting (49) and Damien Martyn (5) during their run-chase before Mike Hussey (61 not out) and Michael Clarke (21 not out) steered them to victory.

Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was the architect of England's collapse, capturing four for 49 off 32 overs. Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee captured two wickets each.

England hold the Ashes after beating Australia 2-1 at home last year but need to win at least two of the three remaining Tests to retain the urn.

The third Test of the series starts in Perth on December 14 with the fourth match in Melbourne and the last in Sydney.

England captain Andrew Flintoff said his players were in a state of shock after losing a match they thought was dead and buried.

"The lads are bitterly, bitterly disappointed because they gave it everything they had but it just shows you that in test cricket one bad hour can cost you the game," Flintoff said.

"It's a big challenge for us now, two behind in an Ashes series with three games to play, but we can't mope around too much. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting was also struggling to come to terms with how his team managed to steal a win, describing it as one of the most amazing comebacks in cricket history.

"I've played in a lot of good wins before but this beats the lot. It's one of the all-time great test wins as far as I'm concerned," he said.

"To turn a Test match around like that, it just doesn't happen. We've all seen enough games of test match cricket and I've played enough to know that you have to do something exceptional."

WINNING WARNE

"I'm knackered to be honest, so the fingers are pretty sore ... but I love being in those situations," Warne said.

"As much as the body was starting to tire, the adrenaline (kicked in) that we were about to achieve, in 140 Test matches, the greatest Test match I've ever played."

The match had seemed destined to end in a draw after both teams piled on more than 500 runs in their first innings on a lifeless pitch and England started the final day leading by 97 with nine wickets in hand.

Final scores: England 551 for six declared and 129 all out; Australia 513 and 168 for four.